• About
    • About Us
    • What We Cover
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Our Advertisers
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Send News
  • Subscribe

Oak Ridge Today

  • Home
  • Sign in
  • News
    • Business
    • Community
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Police and Fire
    • U.S. Department of Energy
    • Weather
  • Sports
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • Recreation
    • Rowing
    • Youth
  • Entertainment
    • Arts
    • Dancing
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Premium Content
  • Obituaries
  • Classifieds




Spotlight: Rotary leads fight against polio

Posted at 11:25 pm October 29, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

‘We are this close to ending polio’

Rotary International, which includes some 1.3 million members in 33,000 clubs in more than 200 countries around the world, celebrated October 24 as World Polio Day.

Since 1985, Rotary has led the battle against polio, as worldwide cases plummeted from 350,000 per year to several hundred—a 99 percent reduction.

“This is a source of pride to Rotarians everywhere,” says District Governor Jerry Wear of Rotary District 6780, which includes East Tennessee. “In our relentless fundraising efforts and our participation in inoculation days around the world, Rotarians are committed to carrying this important mission to completion.”

Today, polio is endemic in only three countries—Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. When India came off that list in 2012, it was an important step toward eradicating a human disease from the earth for only the second time in history. (The first disease so eradicated was smallpox.)

Advertisement

In the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary’s chief roles are in fundraising, advocacy, awareness raising, and mobilizing volunteers, in partnership with world governments, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Since 1985, Rotarians have contributed more than $1.3 billion and countless volunteer hours to fighting polio. The Gates Foundation, which has also contributed more than $1.3 billion, has issued a challenge grant worth up to $300 million, matching every Rotary contribution 2-to-1 up to $35 million each year through 2018.

In support of Rotary’s efforts, luminaries around the globe from Desmond Tutu to Jackie Chan, Jack Nicklaus, and our own Lady Vols coach Holly Warlick have generously held up their index fingers and thumbs to tell the world that “We are this close to ending polio.”

East Tennesseans can take special pride in this ongoing effort, since crucial leadership for Rotary International’s commitment to ending polio has come from leadership of District beginning in 1977 when James Bowmar Jr. of Shelbyville, Tennessee, made a commitment to eradicate polio in the Phillipines. He served as president of Rotary International in 1979-1980, and polio was eradicated in the Phillipines.

Advertisement

Following that success, James Lacey of the Cookeville Rotary club was appointed to head the National PolioPlus Coordinator for Rotary International. He was elected to be president of Rotary International in 1998-1999.  He serves today as the liason to the U.S. Senate and House of Representative to encourage funding for the Polio Eradication Program.

The late Bill Sergeant of the Oak Ridge Rotary Club chaired Rotary International’s PolioPlus Committee for 12 years. Along with the awards and citations he received from the likes of UNICEF and the CDC, Sergeant’s tireless efforts are memorialized by the statue in downtown Knoxville’s Krutch Park, appropriately depicting him immunizing a baby.

As vice chair of fund development for Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee, John Germ of the Rotary Club of Chattanooga led Rotary’s US $200 Million Challenge, a fundraising effort in which Rotary raised more than $228 million toward a $355 million challenge grant from the Gates Foundation. Because Rotary reached the $200 million milestone ahead of schedule, the Gates Foundation awarded Rotary an additional $50 million.

Says Germ, who is slated to become president of Rotary International for 2016-17, “I look forward to the day when Rotary and its partners can eradicate polio forever.”

Filed Under: Community, Honors and Spotlight, Nonprofits Tagged With: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Sergeant, East Tennessee, Gates Foundation, Global Polio Eradication Initiative, James Lacey, Jerry Wear, John Germ, Oak Ridge Rotary Club, polio, Rotary, Rotary Club of Chattanooga, Rotary District 6780, Rotary International, World Polio Day

Advertisements

 

Join the club!

If you appreciate our work, please consider subscribing. Besides helping us, your subscription will give you access to our premium content.

Most of our stories are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our members—advertisers, subscribers, and sponsors.

But some are premium content, available only to members. Those are in-depth, investigative, or exclusive stories that are available only on Oak Ridge Today. They generally require at least four hours to report, write, and publish.

You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month.

You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers, and they include benefits.

Basic

  • Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
  • Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

  • Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
  • Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

  • Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

We also accept donations. You can donate here.

If you prefer to send a check for a subscription or donation, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

Commenting Guidelines

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.

More Community News

Update on downtown Oak Ridge Tuesday

A city official will give an update on the proposed development of downtown Oak Ridge during a lunchtime meeting Tuesday. The presentation will be led by Wayne Blasius, director of the Oak Ridge Planning and … [Read More...]

Experience world cultures at Children’s Museum International Festival

Flamenco, Irish, and Greek dancers will be among entertainers at the International Festival on Saturday, February 26, at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. A special guest from Ireland, musician and singer Fionan Casey, … [Read More...]

Expungements to be discussed March 1

A partner in a Knoxville law firm will discuss conviction expungement during a virtual talk sponsored by an Oak Ridge organization March 1. The information about expungement will be presented by Wade V. Davies, … [Read More...]

Breakfast with Legislators on Feb. 28

The first Breakfast with the Legislators this year is scheduled for Monday morning, February 28. The breakfast will be virtual, and it scheduled from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. It has been organized by the League of Women … [Read More...]

Supreme Court justice to discuss WWII POWs

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee will discuss the compelling stories of five American soldiers captured and held as prisoners of war by the Germans during World War II during a lunchtime meeting next week, a … [Read More...]

More Community

Recent Posts

  • Rocky Top woman pleads guilty to murder, sentenced to life
  • REAC/TS welcomes new team members: John Crapo, Josh Hayes and David Quillen
  • NASA Postdoctoral Program seeks early career and senior scientists for prestigious fellowships at its locations across the U.S.
  • ORAU names Brandon Criswell associate general counsel
  • Update on downtown Oak Ridge Tuesday
  • TVA has virtual open house for Clinch River Nuclear Site
  • Science and supercomputers at ORNL topic of Mar. 8 talk
  • First Presbyterian offers free meals & groceries on Mar. 10
  • Secret City Academy student charged with terrorism after alleged shooting, bomb threats
  • ORHS Masquers presents ‘Into the Woods’

Search Oak Ridge Today

About Us

About Oak Ridge Today
What We Cover

How To

Advertise
Subscribe

Contact Us

Contact Oak Ridge Today

Copyright © 2022 Oak Ridge Today